Cantillon 50 Degrees North-4 Degrees East | Brasserie Cantillon

0 characters.
We love reviews! Turn your rating into one with ≥ 150 characters. Awesome. Thanks for the review!

In English, explain why you're giving this rating. Your review must discuss the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) and your overall impression in order to indicate that you have legitimately tried the beer. Nonconstructive reviews may be removed without notice and action may be taken on your account.

Reviews by NoLiberty:

Sampled this young bottle at the Cantillon Brewery in Brussels with GrassrootsVT as a gift from the brewer right off the conditioning stack. Really nice treat.

This is their traditional lambic aged 2 years in cognac barrels. The name 50 degrees north-4 degrees east refers to the breweries location in terms of latitude-longitude.

App: Served from a lambic basket. Pours an orange-golden, straw color with notes of caramel colored edging. A smallish head (likely due to the lack of full bottle fermentation) with a lasting filmy head and low lacing. Beautiful little bubbles rise like a chain from the bottom of the glass.

Aroma: Very nice smell. Warm, tart with undertones of dried fruit and grape skin. Starts with a solid lambic nose and strengthens with notes of oak, woodiness, warm fruit, alcohol and raisins. An exceptional balance of ripe fruits to tartness.

Taste: A beautiful balance of flavors back and forth between tart and refreshing and slightly sweet and fruity. Starts traditionally tart with slight cherry and finishes with more fresh flowers, sour grapes, and slight warming alcohol fruit. Finishes dry.

Mouth: Slightly fuller bodied than expected or desired, which may be due to not enough age. Carbonation is good and pretty strong. Body is somewhat bigger than expected. Very dry despite being slightly sweet.

Drink: Oh yeah, very good on the drinkability, mostly due to the incredible balance of flavors.

More User Reviews:

Bottle generously shared by Huhzubendah, big thanks to you Matt. The brew appears an attractive clear pale yellow color with a white head that is quick to fade.

The aroma contains some pleasant white grape juiciness overtop herbal earthiness and citrus zest. The taste is a bit grassy with bitter earthiness and a dry neutral oak character. Into the aftertaste is a slight bitterness like citrus pulp/pith.

This is light in body with modest carbonation. A very pleasant experience and dare I say this brew is downright crushable. I need to get myself a bottle of this.

Pours a beautiful hazy darker golden body, one finger white head with very nice retention time; dropping into a medium sized collar. Slight lacing, but not a ton. It's slightly darker than I expected it to be, but not in a bad way. It smells impressively oaky with a nice sweet grain quality to it, with the characteristic funk of the brewery. This one in particular, like Bio Gueuze, brings me back to the brewery as soon as I smell it. It's very similar to Classic Gueuze, but I think the nose has even more oak to it. I don't smell cognac, but it is noticeably sweeter than I'm used to from Bio Gueuze. Flavour is an intense combination of Senne valley funk, lemon, oak, moderate acidity, wheat, and a nice mildly warming bite on the backend which I am choosing to associate with the cognac barrel. That slight bite of heat and the mouthfeel is what I find to definitively differentiate this from other Gueuzes. The flavour really pops on this one and never really quite lets go; it's as assertive at the end as it is in the beginning. The mouthfeel is noticeably fuller, more of a medium-full body, good carbonation, very easy to sip on. This is the biggest differentiating factor from the other Gueuzes as the cognac barrel seems to impart a fuller body and a slight bite that isn't quite boozy, but it does pleasantly warm you up a little as it goes down. Overall, this was an absolute delight and seems to be drinking noticeably well at 3 years. It essentially has many of the same qualities as Bio Gueuze does that I have come to love, but with a nice cognac barrel twist to it that works quite well.

The beer pours a very clear copper color, light gold hues, a few bubbles rising to the top of the glass with a thin white head, poor retention and lace. The aroma is quite sweet, very rich, decent funkiness, a bit of barnyard, strong oakiness and must, but just super powerful cognac, that really tones down any fruitiness and floral character to a moot point. The flavors showcase a bit more complexity, funkiness, more traditional gueuzy funk, a bit of fruit and floral character peeps out, but oak is quite strong and the cognac, rich and sweet with some strong caramel and almost a bit of pepperiness that really lingers on the palate, not quite cloying, but assertively sweet. The mouthfeel is quite nice, smooth and coating with just a hint of zippy carbonation that finishes super easily, really helps the flavors feel a bit more alive.

Verdict: I can't say I'm loving this one. Enjoyable for sure, unique and creative, but the cognac is really assertive and for my palate, too sweet and too rich for a gueuze or a lambic. A novel experiment that achieves minor success, but a bit lacking complexity and balance.

2007 cork date consumed in early 2009. Pours a bright golden-copper with orange leaning hues and a thin white head that bubbles and then dies away. Aroma is of dried hay and pears, currants, apples, and lemons that have all been sitting in a big old pot of funk. Mustiness and horse blanket. Taste is more oaky than most Cantillon but still nothing comparable to many over oaked American attempts at this and similar styles. Tannic acid melds with the general fruitiness of the beer to create a chardonnay like vinous quality. Green apple and pears play a roll and at times there are touches of the tropics in here. Grape fruit finishes things off. The mouthfeel is quite sour but not over the top. Instead of a straight pow to the palate, this beer leaves a lasting but mellower sourness on the tongue. Aggressive carbonation keeps things fairly light.

S: Orange-like fruitiness with hints of grapes. Some vinegar and tart apples. Plenty of funky notes - horse blanket, barn and wet hay. Some interesting notes of phenolic alcohol tickles the nose, might this be the cognac barrels revealing their presence? All in all, a very nice smell.

T: Very easy to drink, considering that this is a beer from Cantillon. Tart citric notes and a nice wheat character up front. Earth, yeast and grass are present, but rather restrained. Plenty of funky notes - horse blanket, wet dog and a hint of aged cheese. Some vinegar and some tart notes. In the mouth, there is really nothing extraordinary about this beer, but upon swallowing it truly excels. A wonderful mix of cognac and green apples appear, and it is really a fantastic taste. The taste of cognac is subtle but distinct, slightly phenolic with notes of oak barrel, raisins and butterscotch. Slightly boozy for just a hint of a second, and this is actually a pleasant experience during these circumstances. Then comes the apples with their wonderfully tart character. The finish is really long.

D: I really like this one. A fantastic lambic with a rather unique character due to the cognac flavor. The cognac delivers a very sophisticated edge to the beer. Among the best beer I've had from this fantastic brewery, and that says quite a lot.

A - Pours a slightly hazy dark golden brown with only a ring of white head.

S - Aroma is mostly funky, with wood notes and hints of cognac. Not much in the way of tart components to the aroma, save pehaps of lemon. Maybe a hint of vanilla.

T - In contrast to the aroma, the taste starts with a nice lemony tartness, with a bit of lactic sourness. Nice funkiness throughout, though it takes a back seat to the tartness. Cognac comes in midway and lingers after the finish, which is also quite tanniny and bitter. The deeper I get into the glass, the stronger the oak comes through, mostly as a dry, almost fresh wood taste. No hint of vanilla in the taste.

M – Medium/light mouthfeel with a strong oak dryness.

O – A very interesting twist on the standard gueuze, and for the most part very successful. As an everyday beer, I would probably prefer the standard, but this is definitely an enjoyable take on the style.

Slightly hazed golden and orange with a thin white cap. This doesn't have quite as much visible carbonation as a more traditional gueuze. Dots of stick left down the glass.

The base gueuze does shine through, but I wish it was even more dominant. Some mild lemon tartness and a little bit of oak and some funk (wet grass and hay). The spirit is subdued but present. I actually think this doesn't shine nor is it as vibrant as the classic gueuze, which I actually might prefer here.

The flavor is similar to the aroma: mild tart sour character complements oak, dry grass funk, and just the slightest vinegar. Again, with the aroma, I think I prefer the classic gueuze more, as this one is less sour and strangely, less interesting.

Medium bodied with near-high carbonation.

Delicious, but I don't think the price/rarity/hunt for this one is worth it.